Analysis of images, media, and data is a useful tool in many fields of endeavor. In many instances, the media being viewed may be too large to see all at once. For example, the media may be a large image or long video or audio sequence. Other examples might be a long-time data trend for a stock price or other large sets of data. Conventional solutions, which allow a user to navigate this media, commonly employ sliders or other navigation interfaces. Frequently, it is beneficial or necessary to zoom in on a specific sub-set of the media such as frames in a video or sections of a sound track to get a higher resolution.
FIG. 1 illustrates one embodiment of a conventional navigation interface 10. The illustrated embodiment includes a scale 12, a selector 14, and jump arrows 16. The resolution of the scale 12 corresponds to some density of media. In the illustrated embodiment, the scale 12 corresponds to data between Point A and Point B. The selector 14 corresponds to a portion of the media that is displayed to a user (not shown). The user may drag either side of the selector 14 to vary the amount of the scale 12 that is selected and, hence, the amount of media that is displayed to the user. The jump arrows 16 at either end of the scale 12 are configured to allow the user to scroll through the available media.
However, the illustrated conventional system 10 lacks the ability to present the overall context of the total media when zoomed in to evaluate or analyze the media. For example, when zoomed in on a portion of a video frameset, the context for how that frameset corresponds with the rest of the video sequence is lost. Additionally, in another example, when viewing a portion of a stock price history corresponding to a few weeks, the context of the few weeks relative to the data pertaining to the stock price trend over several years is also lost. Alternatively, if the user zooms out to display the entire set of media, the granularity of the scale 12 decreases. Thus, it is difficult to maintain sufficient granularity of the scale and to view an overall context of the displayed media at the same time.